Busy consumers drive protein inclusion in snacks

Today’s modern consumers live busy lives with long working hours and huge ambitions for parenthood, cultivating friendships, and staying fit and healthy. Yet, time is a valuable asset, and most of us can recognize the struggle to balance hectic work life with family, friends, and daily exercise.

The modern and busy consumers are on a constant outlook for new ways to free up minutes of the day, and typically they turn to convenient, fast service options when it comes to food. Their lifestyle leaves very little or no time at all for cooking. And as they do not cook, they can all together reduce the time spend on buying groceries. As a result, the busy consumer often turns to easy grab-and-go options they can buy and enjoy while on the go.

Convenient and healthy

Convenience is key, and these consumers are eager to adopt new options that can help them free up time. Modern consumers want to stay fit, and healthy and they want to feel good about what they eat and what they feed their families. So, even though convenience is key, they are still demanding nutritious and healthy foods.

This consumer group does not prioritize time for cooking; they rarely have time to sit down and concentrate on eating a meal. They would usually grab a snack or a meal kit and eat it while on the go or while sitting at the computer. The interesting thing is that they are increasingly mindful about what they eat. They expect a snack or meal replacer to provide them with the recommended daily intake of nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and proteins. And at the same time, they demand freshly prepared food, clean label and tasty options.

Today, consumers opt for healthy grab-and-go food and drinks – such as salads, sandwiches, nutrition bars, collagen shots, protein drinks, and high-in-protein smoothies.

Satisfying individual needs becomes more important

The other side of the coin for many of these busy consumers is that a growing number of people are suffering from a sleep disorder, stress, anxiety and other health issues.

As consumers are increasingly looking for food and meal kit options that can satisfy their individual needs, we see a growth in indulging foods, which can help people wind down or cover needs for emotional comfort.

The products available must be satisfying, healthy and nutritious, and many consumers are looking for products high in protein. For one thing, they are looking to increase the protein intake in every meal and distribute their protein intake throughout the day. In fact, the CAGR of snacking launches tracked with a high protein claim from 2015-2020 was +16.8 % (Innova Market Insights, 2020).

Huge growth in meal kits

Meal kits are on the rise, and even ready meals that are easy to heat up and made from wholesome raw materials are gaining traction among modern consumers. However, many of these consumers still surge the taste and the experience of a homecooked meal – just without the preparation.

There are huge opportunities within the segment of healthy and nutritious meal kits and new on-the-go options for food producers around the globe. The market for especially meal kits has grown tremendously over the past five years. We see growth rates (CAGR) of 28 % in the number of launches tracked globally by Innova Market Insights from 2015 to 2020. There are market shares to win in this market because the number of busy consumers is increasing, as it includes everyone from Gen X to Z – and it is tempting to predict that future generations will also tab into this lifestyle.

A trend or here to stay

For the past ten years, we have seen consumers desiring comfort foods, energy-boosting foods and beverages, and various on-the-go products. And nothing indicates that this trend is on a downward direction—more than ever, consumers are focusing on convenience, health and comfort in everyday life.

Finding the right protein source for your snack or meal kit option can be difficult. Essentia protein/collagen/bone broth portfolio offers an optimum solution for your products. These solutions helps create high-in-collagen options that claim to give consumers the quick and easy health boost they are looking for!

The story was first published on Essentia Protein Solutions

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